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Sanders Says Attack on NLRB Proves Trump Is Enemy of the Working Class
"Rather than standing up for average Americans," said the Independent U.S. senator, the president is "protecting the interests of some of the wealthiest people in the world."
Feb 08, 2025
President Donald Trump, by his actions, has revealed his clear dishonesty when he claims to be governing on behalf of American workers and their families.
That's the message at the heart of a statement released Friday by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who cited recent attacks on the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) by the Trump administration and his allies that directly contradict any such claims.
"When Trump campaigned for president, he claimed he was on the side of the working class," said Sanders. "But that’s not what he’s delivering. Rather than standing up for average Americans, he's protecting the interests of some of the wealthiest people in the world."
When Trump, he continued, "fires the most pro-union General Counsel in the history of the NLRB and illegally removes a member of this independent board, he is not a champion of the working class. He is a champion of unfettered corporate greed and union busters."
"When Trump campaigned for president, he claimed he was on the side of the working class. But that’s not what he’s delivering."
—Sen. Bernie Sanders
On Jan. 27, NLRB Commissioner Gwynne Wilcox, appointed to the board in 2021 for a term intended to last through to 2028, was terminated in a move that labor experts said was both unprecedented and unlawful.
Wilcox, who has since filed a lawsuit over her ouster, said in an interview with CBS News on Thursday that she was shocked—as were many others—by Trump's move, which she called a "blatant violation" of statutes that protect members of the board from political interference or reprisal.
"The law is that board members cannot be removed from their position unless they've engaged in neglect or duty or malfeasance, Wilcox explained. "And based upon the letter I received, there was no claim of that. There [wasn't] any cause or any reason that I was actually terminated."
Labor unions and advocates have said the attack on Wilcox represents a full and frontal assault on the ability of workers to organize or for union members to have their disputes or grievances addressed.
"The removal of Chair Wilcox threatens NLRB's independence and endangers working people's rights," said Eric Dean, General President of the Iron Workers Union (IW), in a Friday statement. "We stand in solidarity with Chair Wilcox and call for her immediate reinstatement to safeguard workers' rights."
The IW, which represents over 135,000 ironworkers in North America, said the "inappropriate" removal of Wilcox "has rendered the 5-member board inoperable, shutting down its decision-making ability and jeopardizing the protection of workers."
Sanders, in his remarks, echoed that central concern:
As a result of Trump’s unprecedented move, the NLRB no longer has a quorum and has effectively been shut down. What does this mean? It means that it will be far, far harder for workers to exercise their constitutional right to form a union and improve their standard of living. It means that during a union election, corporate bosses can illegally fire workers who vote to join a union. It means that corporate CEOs have free rein to illegally intimidate and coerce pro-union workers without recourse. It means that corporations can aggressively decide not to bargain in good faith with union workers or sign a first contract.
And because the NLRB is now dysfunctional, workers have no recourse.
Trump’s decision has already had disastrous consequences. Last week, workers at a Whole Foods grocery store in Philadelphia voted 130-100 to join the United Food and Commercial Workers union. But Whole Foods, owned by Jeff Bezos, has made it crystal clear that they will ignore this union victory and will not bargain with their union workers in good faith. Without a functioning NLRB, Whole Foods cannot be held accountable for its illegal behavior.
Sanders singled out Bezos as well as Elon Musk, who has been tapped by Trump to oversee the Department of Government Efficiency( DOGE), which is not an actual department with congressionally-granted authority but has targeted numerous federal agencies over the last two weeks, including the Department of Labor.
"For months, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, the two wealthiest men alive," said Sanders, "have been working overtime to abolish the NLRB. Why is that? These notorious anti-union billionaires want the absolute power to exploit their workers and violate labor law. The lower the wages they pay, the more money they make. Since Election Day, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos have become $184 billion richer and are now worth $669 billion. But, apparently, that’s not enough."
Since Trump's reelection in November, a campaign victory bankrolled by numerous right-wing billionaires like Musk, Sanders has railed against the threat posed by what he has termed an American oligarchy.
Union leaders like AFL-CIO president Liz Shuler have also issued warnings about the erosion of worker protections under Trump.
“The government can work for billionaires or it can work for working people—but not both,” Shuler said on Wednesday ahead of a rally outside the Department of Labor, where DOGE personnel were said to meeting with DOL staffers.
“The government can work for billionaires or it can work for working people—but not both." —Liz Shuler, AFL-CIO
In a recent appearance on MSNBC's "All In With Chris Hayes," Sanders said that while Republicans are in control of both chambers of Congress, those majorities are historically slim and that means lawmakers remain "susceptible to citizen outrage."
Sanders said he wanted the American people, and specifically working families, to understand that they are right to be anxious about the current situation, but that they must mobilize and agitate to make their opposition heard.
"If you see these guys doing something—like wanting to give huge tax breaks to billionaires while they cut Medicare; or they want to go 'Drill, baby, drill' while we happen to be facing an existential threat of climate change; if they want to deport 20 million people in this country—stand up, fight back, we can beat them," said Sanders.
"Let's not act in a hopeless way," he continued, remarking on what can be done in the immediate term. "Longer term, obviously, we have to do what the Democratic Party has not done—and become the party of the working class, develop a strong grassroots movement, with labor unions, with young people, with people of color—and organize and fight back."
"The progressive agenda, and I say this over and over again, is the people's agenda," said Sanders. "It is wildly popular."
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In Grim Memo to Staff, NLRB Counsel Says 'I Cannot Promise You Everything Is Going to Be OK'
The acting general counsel of the National Labor Relations Board acknowledged that "the past few days and nights have been extremely scary and distressing" as federal agencies come under attack.
Jan 31, 2025
The top attorney at the National Labor Relations Board wrote in a memo to staff on Friday that she can't "promise everything is going to be OK" as the Trump administration attempts to ravage agencies across the government, running roughshod over career federal employees and the law in the process.
"I know that the past few days and nights have been extremely scary and distressing for some of us," Acting NLRB General Counsel Jessica Rutter wrote in a message obtained and posted to social media by independent journalist Ken Klippenstein.
"I know that at this moment, no matter what I say there is uncertainty," Rutter continued. "I cannot promise you that everything is going to be OK. I can promise you that I will be standing with the employees of his agency to effectuate our mission."
The memo from Rutter, who took over the post earlier this week after Trump fired former NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo, marks the latest expression of deep unease and alarm from a federal workforce facing unprecedented attacks by President Donald Trump, billionaire Elon Musk, and the lackeys they have installed in key positions of authority throughout the government.
Slate's Mark Joseph Stern reported earlier this week that the NLRB's staff is "profoundly demoralized," particularly following Trump's termination of NLRB Chair Gwynne Wilcox—a move that was widely seen as illegal. Wilcox has vowed to pursue "all legal avenues to challenge" her removal.
"We expected Abruzzo's removal," a career attorney at the NLRB told Slate, "but Wilcox's unconstitutional ouster is a punch to the gut, not only because she was a fierce defender of the [National Labor Relations Act's] principles, but because a quorumless board leaves many of us floundering in our jobs."
Stern stressed that in addition to severely hindering the NLRB in the near-term, Trump's removal of Wilcox sets the stage for challenges to Supreme Court precedent that could "unleash a spate of firings across other independent agencies."
"Trump could bring every regulatory body under his thumb, terminating anyone who questioned his priorities," Stern warned. "And he would not stop there. The president has already claimed authority to fire high-ranking members of the civil service, who have merit protections, and has begun illegally removing them. He is seeking to reclassify at least 50,000 more career employees so he can easily oust them. And he is, of course, already purging other agencies with weaker protections than the NLRB—including the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission."
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US Labor Board Bans Captive Audience Meetings to Ensure 'Truly Free' Worker Choice
"Today's decision better protects workers' freedom to make their own choices in exercising their rights," said the chair of the National Labor Relations Board.
Nov 13, 2024
In a decision that advocates say will likely be reversed during the second administration of Republican U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, the National Labor Relations Board on Wednesday ruled that employers cannot force workers to attend anti-union speeches.
The NLRB's 3-1 decision in Amazon.com Services, LLCmeans that workers will no longer have to take part in so-called "captive audience meetings," which employers often use as a union-busting tool and a form of coercion. The agency explained that such meetings violate Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act "because they have a reasonable tendency to interfere with and coerce employees."
"However, the board made clear that an employer may lawfully hold meetings with workers to express its views on unionization so long as workers are provided reasonable advance notice of: the subject of any such meeting, that attendance is voluntary with no adverse consequences for failure to attend, and that no attendance records of the meeting will be kept," the NLRB added.
NLRB Chairperson Lauren McFerran, a Democrat, said in a statement that "ensuring that workers can make a truly free choice about whether they want union representation is one of the fundamental goals of the National Labor Relations Act."
"Captive audience meetings—which give employers near-unfettered freedom to force their message about unionization on workers under threat of discipline or discharge—undermine this important goal," McFerran added. "Today's decision better protects workers' freedom to make their own choices in exercising their rights under the act, while ensuring that employers can convey their views about unionization in a noncoercive manner."
In April 2022, the NLRB's general counsel office issued a memo asserting that captive audience meetings are illegal. At least 11 states have banned such meetings. Other states are in various stages of considering or enacting bans or restrictions on them.
Workers' rights advocates hailed Wednesday's decision, although labor journalist Hamilton Nolan quipped on social media that employees should "enjoy this brief shining period before the Trump NLRB reverses this decision."
However, More Perfect Union producer Jordan Zakarin argued that Democrats can protect this "monumental win for labor" for "the next few years" if "they finally confirm" President Joe Biden's nomination of Joshua Ditelberg—a Republican lawyer who has represented companies including Amazon, Airbnb, and UnitedHealth—to fill the fifth NLRB seat.
According to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI)—a Washington, D.C.-based, pro-union think tank—U.S. employers spend an estimated $433 million per year on union-busting consultants.
"This reality makes it harder for workers to fight for their collective bargaining rights because they do not know the extent of their companies' investments in union-busting, a figure that could empower them at the negotiating table when employers claim they can't afford to increase pay and benefits," EPI said last year.
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